Cold!

It is cold!!!!! We have a fire in the wood burner to help with the chill. It was 3 below this morning. My trip to the market was slow yesterday...lots of ice on the roads and this is only the beginning. There was lots of finder benders on the freeway. Today they seem to understand that there is black ice on the roads. We have had some warmer winters the last few years here in Nampa, but I am thinking this will not be one of them. Baxter or cat has decided that the last thing he wants to do is go outside. Mattie Anne is our snow dog, she loves to get her nose into the snow. Now then there is LB, he goes out does what he must and right back in, he does not like all that white cold stuff that covers the ground. It's like this...what have you done to my yard? fix it!!! Today I am off to Body Works....no not to get my body fixed, although it needs a left! I am going to buy all that fun stuff girls just love, lotion, lip gloss, things that smell really good. I will be careful, and you all do the same. Have a great day....Hugs, Mary

Let it snow!

Well the snow day came....we woke this morning to all white. Just about 2 inches, enough to be dangerous on the roads. It will be 9 degree's tonight, and the high today is 27 so there is a lot of ice. And I am going shopping in a few minutes...Yikes! This is our Maple Tree in the front yard.

This is our front yard from my door.

Swishing through the snow!!!!!

How did I come to the name of my blog?

Janet had this on her blog....so I have joined in.

Back of the Moon came from a movie that I enjoyed years ago. Heaven Can Wait was the name of the movie, I think. In the movie they go to this beautiful house on a lake, it was so pretty. They called it Back of the Moon. I just love the way it sounds.

Then Janet talks about her name.

My name is Mary Ellen. I hated this name because the boys at elementry school would tease me...Mary Ellen Jams and Jelly's, it was hard enough being a redhead with all the blonde blue eyed girls...so I decided when I went into Jr. High that I would be just Mary. My Mother hated that I did this, she never called me just Mary. My Dad called me Red, so does Arney. And my Grandparents called me Doll.

Little Mitten

Click on picture to see them better:)

Just finished 17 little mitten's. This idea came from Dawn at The Feathered Nest. I am not really good at taking pictures. But I wanted to share these before I put them away for Christmas. They will hang on my tree with candy inside. I think they will be a fun addition to our tree.

Thank You Dawn, I loved doing them.

This is one of my 3 ft stockings

Although I have done the lettering on 11 of the stockings, I still have embellishments to add. I plan to put beads and glitter on them, each being a little different from the other. I bought these stockings at the dollar store with nothing on them. A perfect opportunity to give them a little lift and make them personal. click to enlarge. The HO HO HO is in full force. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, we had a great day, but I forgot to take pictures...what was I thinking:(

Pumpkin Bars.....These are so good:)

In the spirit of the season....here is our family Pumpkin Bars....I make these for Christmas too. Happy Thanksgiving, Mary

Pumpkin Pie in the oven and a Turkey story

Before I start my little story...I read Julie's tails of Thanksgiving past and found myself thinking of this......It was 1963....many moons ago. We were living in Placerville, California with my parents since we were trying to save money for a place of our own. There was about 4 foot of snow in the flats and much deeper as you went up the hill. My Dad, my cousin and Arney decided that they would hunt and kill the Turkey...they looked like mountain men....not like we didn't have a market full of Birds. But off they went. On this same day the news came that President Kennedy had been shot and soon had passed away. My Mother's face was white as snow as we tried to take this in. I never felt so lost, and somehow knew that we would never be the same. Dad had shot his bird and we would be having Thanksgiving...
The Bird was large, and when they took the feathers off they found that the Bird had some kind of little mites. With company coming it was decided that the Bird would be skinned. Now at the age of 18 I had had some really good Turkey's, but this would not be one of them. It looked awful and was dry as a bone. No one said a word since Dad seemed to be so proud of his catch and cut it with the pride of the hunter with his game. So with a smile and a tear, this was the Thanksgiving we will always remember. That was Dad's one and only trip in the woods for Turkey. Happy Thanksgiving from our house to yours!

Not a Turkey story......

I would never want to offend the Turkey especially at this time of year. But while looking at some graphics of the beloved Turkey, I thought of our Guinea Hen. It was a fall day on our little farm when I heard a sound that was not familiar in any way. My parents were visiting so we all looked to see this ugly Bird of another kind. Mama being a person to search out and find an answer went to check out this critter that was making such a racket. Mama came back with, "It is a Guinea Hen." I had no idea what a Guinea Hen was or what to do with it, and had hopes that it would be found or go away. It made such a awful sound. So for the next 3 days it screamed and ate the bugs out of our orchard. Mama and Dad went back to California, and I had a new friend. The 4th day it stopped making allot of noise and came into the back yard. It seemed to be adopting us and had no problem being in our world. So we started calling her Guinea as a endearment. She seemed to find me gardening her delight and would help me with gathering of sticks, leaves, and ate a few bugs right under my nose. To Arney's surprise and delight she found his lap, he showed her off to anyone and everyone who came over. She would jump right up on his lap and set with sweetness and blink and look around like it was second nature to her. Often falling asleep. She was a really active watch Hen. She would chase after their cars, and make a awful fuss. She scared the heck out of guests because this farm now belonged to her and no one had seen such a ugly Bird. With time family and friends understood that she was a greeter too. She was so ugly that when she got in my face I could hardly believe how much I loved her....So I leave you with this thought, I am so glad it is Turkey day and not Guinea day, I would probably just have pumpkin pie! Happy Thanksgiving!
I am sad to say that in the time we were honored to have her, we never took a picture of her....that is foul!!!!

Getting things done

We are so happy that our little room is done. It has added 10 feet of setting, and a fresh new look to our back door entry. A nice place to set, read, and change shoes in the winter. You have no idea how glad I am that it is done:)

Painted a shelf that was already here while it was a craft room. I am going to use it for some of our favorite books. I also added the Benn's that had been used in the pantry. I thought they would be handy...not sure what will go in them yet. The bottom shelf will go for games, markers for the grandkids. We could put a small TV in here sense the cable is ready...not sure I want to do that. At one point a twin bed was in this room. It was for my Mother. She stayed with us for a few months and cold not go upstairs. So we put a small TV in so that she could rest and watch her soaps. At another time it was a playroom for our Granddaughter Kayla. We put in the sink, ref, stove, chairs and table. This was her kitchen next to mine. A lot of foodies, tea parties, and listening to her talk to her babies. It is a good room!

At this point you wonder if it was the right thing, but with the progress I felt it was perfect.

Most of you know that I live in a 1906 cottage farm house. Arney is on top of the barn fixing very old wiring. The wind has been blowing really hard, so some stuff came lose. Arney was not looking forward to going up there, but being the adventurer that he is it was calling him. He said, "watch me in case I fall." Lovely last words from my guy.

Nothing like the fear of falling on a cold windy day.

Angel..............Food

Since I decorate my tree with goodies for the kids...I got an idea to make Angel food. So I will fill a clear bag (small) with some kind of little candies and put a poem about angels with these little angels I made on the front of the bag...with a dot of glue from my trusty glue gun. I hope you like them and that you might like to make some too.
My own pattern....then I blanket stitched all around the edges since I doubled the flees...cream color. Made little hearts and sew them on with just the button holding them on.

I had some gold wire so I made a little circle and put the beads on and clipped them in the back and made a little stitch to hold them in place. Each have five little beads in there halo.

Then I used tiny beads for their eyes...I sew them on, hiding the thread.

Then with Gel Medium I put some on the wings and bottom of the angel. Sprinkled with glitter. So if it gives you an idea or two, have fun.

Christmas Stockings

I bought 13 of these stockings. They are 3 feet long. I love to decorate them for the grandkids for Christmas. So the next time you see them they will have names on them with lots of fun embellishments. I was so happy to find these at the dollar store...Yep, I am going to be busy. Gerri if you have come to visit...hello..lunch was fun. It always is. Mary

Pillow top and curtains done

I had to lower the curtains. I have room for pictures above them now. Some touch up painting and I will hang some of the pictures that have been waiting to be seen.

The pillow top and curtains are done. I made curtains that can be tied back or left straight. Arney is going to finish the sanding and paint on his day off. I was going to do the painting but he said that he would like to do it. He knows I drip to much. It is cold and windy today, I have a fire going in the wood burner. Our tree's are almost empty of leaves because of all the days we have had with wind. A good day for doing things around the house. I will take more pictures after the seats are painted. Happy Monday!